Brush assembly machine



July 19, 1966 D. s. MACKAY ETAL BRUSH ASSEMBLY MACHINE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1Filed June 19, 1964 0 0w on N OE pm M ow 0% BOT. MW l l o NNllllllllllllllllllll II T Q I $2 9 v I o mm y 1966 D. s. MACKAY ETAL 3,

BRUSH ASSEMBLY MACHINE Filed June 19, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORDONALD S. MACKAY ALAN M. HALLWORTH ATTORNEYS United States Patent3,261,449 BRUSH ASSEMBLY MACHINE Donald S. Mackay, Belleisle Creek, NewBrunswick, and

Allan M. Hallworth, Lancaster, New Brunswick, Canada, assignors to T. S.Simms & Co. Limited, New

Brunswick, Canada Filed June 19, 1964, Ser. No. 376,328 3 Claims. (Cl.198--107) This invention relates to brush assembly machines and isparticularly concerned with an apparatus for securing handles to brushrun-its consisting of ferrules having bristles cemented therein.

The apparatus in accord with the invention is primarily suited to theassembly of paint brushes and is an improvement on the machine disclosedin United States Patent 2,033,259, issued March 10, 1936. The apparatusdisclosed in this prior patent performed the functions of insertinghandles in brush ferrules having bristles cemented therein, nailing theferrules to the handles and finally finishing the bristles. primarilyconcerned with the step of nailing the ferrules to the handles.

The apparatus of the prior patent suffered several drawbacks. Paintbrush handles are usually finished in clear, hard surface lacquer andare subject to scratching of the lacquer. Also, the steel ferrule iscommonly made from a soft, tin-plated mild steel, also very susceptibleto scratching and marking. One of the drawbacks of the prior apparatusis that the conveyor mechanism for moving the ferrules and handlesthrough the apparatus had characteristics which tended to scratch orotherwise mark both the handles and ferrules. Further, the assembledbrushes tended to become misaligned relative to their direction oftravel, causing breakdown in the operation of the apparatus. alignmentof the brushes followed from the principle of guiding the brushes by theforward and rearward ends of the ferrules. As the thickness of theferrule material is normally in the order of .012 inch, the brushestended to jump out of the guideways provided for engagement therewith.Further, the prior apparatus employed a reciprocating pusher bar havinga number of upstanding dogs for pushing the brushes through the machine.The dogs were arranged in single file along the pusher bar so thatconstant adjustment of the dogs relative to the length of the ferruleswas necessary to avoid an unbalanced pushing movement on the ferrules.In other words, considerable care was required to ensure that the dogsengaged the ferrules at the point of balance thereof to prevent atwisting movement on the ferrules which would cause the ferrules tobecome misaligned.

The prior apparatus was so designed that as the pusher bar movedbackwards, the dogs were pressed downwardly by the ferrules themselves.As a result, the dogs were biased upwardly against the ferrules duringthe backward movement of the pusher bar and the dogs tended to scratchthe under-surface of the ferrules.

Included in the apparatus of the prior patent was a device for turningover the assembled brushes between two nailing stations so that nailscould be first applied through the ferrules from one side of the brushesand then from the opposite side. This turnover device, which wasreferred to as a transfer unit, employed two side by side transferplates and it was necessary to constantly adjust the spacing between theplates to accommodate various sized brushes. The trans-fer platesgripped the bristles to one side and the handle on the other side of theferrule and unless they were adjusted perfectly to offer equal grippingforce on both the bristle and the handle, the brushes tended to swingfrom the desired transverse position relative to their direction ofmovement.

The present invention is This tendency to m-is- Patented July 19, 1966-It is, therefore, a primary object of this invention to provide animproved nailing uni-t of a brush assembly machine.

It is a more specific object of the invention to provide an improvedbrush assembly machine of the type disclosed in the said prior UnitedStates Patent 2,033,259 as to particularly avoid misalignment of brushesas they move through the machine and to avoid scratching and otherwisemarking of the ferrules and brush handles.

These and other objects of the invention will be more thoroughlyunderstood from the following description of a preferred embodimentthereof and read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings,

FIG. 1 is a front elevation view of a first portion of this preferredembodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a front elevation view of a second portion of this embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a transverse cross-sectional view taken along the line 3-3 ofFIG. 1; and

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the left-hand end of FIG. 2.

It is to be understood that FIGS. 1 and 2 should be seen as coupledtogether as to show the apparatus in accord with the invention in itsentirety.' The assembled brushes move through the apparatus from theright-hand end of FIG. 2 to the left-hand end of FIG. 1. During thistravel, the handles which have been previously inserted in the ferrulesare nailed to the ferrules from each side. Between the two nailingoperations, the assembled brushes are turned over. As thus generallydescribed, the apparatus is similar to the earlier apparatus shown inthe prior United States patent referred to above.

The apparatus is supported on a 'bed 10, which, in turn, is mounted onappropriate legs or the like which are not shown but which hold the bed10 at a suitable distance above floor level. Fixed to bed 10 are anumber of brackets 12 which support a pair of two-part rails 14 and 16and include center posts 18 supporting guide tracks 20. Generallyspeaking, the brushes are caused to move along the top surfaces of rails14 and 16 and are maintained transverse to the longitudinal axes of rthe guide track by a groove 22 in the guide track 20 with the grooveengaging one of the ridges formed in the brush ferrule. A typical brushis shown in FIG. 4 from which it can be seen that the ferrule 24 carriesa pair of ridges 26. The brushes are moved through the apparatus with anintermittent motion so that their movement is stopped completely beneaththe mailer units 28 and 30 fora period of time sufiicient to carry outthe nailing operations.

This intermittent movement of the brushes is effected by means of thetwo reciprocating pusher bars 32 and 34. As can be seen in FIG. 4, eachof these bars actually consists of two T-shaped members received inguideways in the two-part rails 14 and 16. The pusher bars are caused toreciprocate by the levers 36 and 38 which are pivotally supported attheir lower ends. At points 40 and 42, the levers carry rollers engagedwith rotating cams which are not shown but which might correspond tothose illustrated in the said earlier United States Patent 2,033,259. Bythe rotation of the cams, the levers are caused to move through limitedarcs sufficient to move the pusher bars 32 and 34 back and forth. Theupper ends of levers 36 and 38 are fixed, through linkages 37 and 39, toa pair of slides 41 and 43 which carry the outer ends of the pusherbars. The connection between the ends of the pusher bars and the slidesis preferably effected by some sont of adjustment means, such as theillustrated threaded rods 45 and 47 and the knurled nuts 49 and 51.

The pusher bars carry a plurality of dogs 44, each of which actuallyconsists of two V-sh-aped members pivotally connected at the point ofjuncture of the two arms to the bars 32 and 34. The lower ends of thedogs are coupled together by two pairs of longitudinally extending rods46 and 48. It can be seen that as rods 46 and 48 are moved relative tothe pusher bars, the upper ends of the dogs 44 are raised and lowered.To provide this relative movement between the rods and the pusher bars,there is provided a pair of solenoid devices 50 and 52 which are coupledto the rods through adjustable members 54 and 56. These members actuallyextend from the solenoid devices to pivot blocks 58 and 60 connected tothe end-most dogs 44. The solenoid 50 upon activation pulls member 54 tothe left as seen in FIG. 2 as to move rod 46 to the left and raise thedogs, with the return motion being provided by a spring 62 upondeactivation of solenoid 50 as to lower the dogs. In the case ofsolenoid 52, activation of the solenoid pushes member 56 to the left asseen in FIG. 1 as to raise the dogs, with the dogs being lowered by theaction of spring 64. The activation of both solenoids can be effected ina number of ways, preferably by limit switches positioned to be trippedby the motion of the pusher bars 32 and 34 so that there is a timedrelationship between movement of the bars and the raising and loweringof the dogs. As can be readily appreciated, the dogs are raised to thepositionshown in each of the drawings as to contact the brush ferruleswith movement of the pusher bars to the left, as shown in the drawings,as it is the object of the combined action of the pusher bars and thedogs to move the ferrules through the machine from right to left. Aspreviously mentioned, the members 54 and 56 are adjustable. Morespecifically, they are adjustable in length so that the height that theupper ends of the dog elements 44 project above the rails 14 and 16 canbe adjusted whereby the assembly is adapted to move brush units ofdifferent thicknesses. This ability to adjust the final height of theupper end of the dog elements is a desirable feature as it is preferablethat the ferrules be contacted at their widest points as the sides ofthe ferrules are normally curved. Moreover, due to other mechanicalrestrictions, it is desirable that the upper ends of the dogs never beelevated above the top edges of the ferrules.

It is to be noted that both the lowering and raising of the dogs arecarried out in a positive manner as distinct from the apparatus inaccord with the earlier United States Patent 2,033,259. In accord withthat patent, the lowering of the dogs on the return stroke of the pusherbars was effected by the ferrules them-selves as the dogs were springbiased towards their upper position and could move past the ferrules onthe return stroke only by the ferrules overcoming this spring bias. Inthe result, the ferrules were scratched by the dogs as the latter movedunder the ferrules.

A further distinct advantage of the dogvarrange-ment in accord with thisinvention is the use of double dogs as to create a balanced force on theferrules. In accord with the apparatus of the prior patent, single dogsonly were employed and even a slight misalignment of the ferrules on theguide tracks would create an unbalanced force on the ferrules by thedogs whereby the ferrules would be moved out of the desired transverseposition relative to the guide tracks.

The transfer mechanism in accord with this invention is shown in theright-hand end of FIG. 2 and in FIG. 3. Connected to a transverserotatable shaft 66 there is a single transfer plate 68 having fourradial arms 70 carrying spring biased jaw mechanisms having shoes 72 forgripping the brush ferrules. The shoes 72 each contain longitudinallyextending grooves corresponding in size to the grooves 22 in the guidetracks 20 whereby the grooves in the guide tracks and in the shoescooperate to control the orientation of the brush ferrules as the lattermove into and out of engagement with the jaw mechanisms. Following thenailing of the ferrules by the nailer 28,

shown in FIG. 1, they are moved by the dogs to the particular jaw 72which is oriented with the left-hand end of rail 14. The ferrules arethen flipped over by the transfer mechanism in a two-step operation andlined up with the other guide rail 16. The rotation of the transfermechanism is timed with the movement of the pusher bars as to achieve asmooth operation transferring the ferrules from the right-hand end ofthe mechanism to the lefthand end. These timing mechanisms and themechanical means for turning over the transfer mechanism are not shownin the drawings as they substantially correspond with the equivalentmechanism shown in the said earlier United States patent.

It is to be noted that the transfer mechanism in accord with thisinvention consists of a simple transfer plate as distinct from thedouble transfer plate transfer mechanism of the prior patent. Thisavoids the difficulty previously mentioned associated with double platearrangement whereby the transfer mechanism must be constantly adjustedto grip the brushes with the same degree of gripping action by bothtransfer plates to ensure constant transverse alignment of the brushes.This difiiculty is simply overcome by using the single transfer plate inaccord with this invention.

What we claim as our invention is:

1. In a brush assembly machine for nailing brush ferrules havingbristles fixed therein to handles, means for moving brush unitsconsisting of brush ferrules having bristles fixed and handles receivedtherein through said machine, said moving means including a firsthorizontal rail consisting of two parallel members spaced from oneanother as to define a longitudinally extending channelway, a secondhorizontal rail of like construction aligned with said first rail, atransfer mechanism positioned between opposed ends of said rails fortransferring brush units from the first rail to the second, pusher barmechanisms associated with each of said rails and adapted to reciprocatelongitudinally thereof, and means for reciprocating said pusher barmechanisms, said pusher bar mechanisms each including a number of pairsof dog elements, and means for raising and lowering said pairs of dogelements from a first position in which the upper ends of the dogelements project above said rails for engagement with brush units lyingthereon to a second position in which the said upper ends of the dogelements are positioned below the top surface of said rails and out ofcontact with said ferrules, said means for raising and lowering saidpairs of dog elements consisting of rod means pivotally connected to thelower ends of the dog elements as to interconnect the said lower ends, asolenoid device carried by the pusher bar mechanism, linkage meansconnecting said solenoid device with said rod means whereby theactuation of said solenoid device causes said dog elements to be raisedor lowered, and spring means for urging said dog elements in a directionopposite to the direction in which they are moved by actuation of thesolenoid device.

2. A brush assembly as claimed in claim 1 in which the linkage meansconnecting said solenoid device. to said rod means is adjustable inlength whereby the distance the upper ends of the dog elements projectabove said rails may be adjusted whereby the assembly is adapted to movebrush units of different thicknesses.

3. In a brush assembly machine for nailing brush ferrules havingbristles fixed therein to handles, means for moving brush unitsconsisting of brush ferrules having bristles fixed and handles receivedtherein through said machine, said moving means including a firsthorizontal rail consisting of two parallel members spaced from oneanother as to define a longitudinally extending channelway, a secondhorizontal rail of like construction aligned with said first rail, atransfer mechanism positioned between opposed ends of said rails fortransferring brush units from the first rail to the second, pusher barmechanisms associated with each of said rails and adapted to reciprocatelongitudinally thereof, means for reciprocating said pusher barmechanisms, said pusher bar mechanisms each including a number of pairsof dog elements, and means for raising and lowering said pairs of dogelements from a first position in which the upper ends of the dogelements project above said rails for engagement With brush units lyingthereon to a second position in which the said upper ends of the dogelements are positioned below the top surface of said rails and out ofcontact with said ferrules, longitudinally extending guide trackspositioned between the parallel members forming said rails, said guidetracks having their upper surfaces substantially level with the uppersurfaces of said rails, the upper surfaces of the guide tracks beingprovided with longitudinally extending grooves for receiving one of thetransverse ridges normally provided on brush ferrules; said transfermechanism consisting of a single transfer plate having four radiallyprojecting arms, means for mounting said transfer plate for rotationabout an axis extending transversely of the longitudinal axis of saidrails, each of said arms carrying at its outer end a spring biased jawmechanism for gripping the ferrule of a brush unit as it is ReferencesCited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,437,410 12/1922 Evans.1,446,594 2/1923 Stadler. 1,594,326 7/ 1926 Richter. 1,845,313 2/1932McKinley l9822l X 1,999,596 4/1935 Roemer 198107 2,873,845 2/1959 Kross198221 EVON C. BLUNK, Primary Examiner.

EDWARD A. SROKA, Examiner.

1. IN A BRUSH ASSEMBLY MACHINE FOR NAILING BRUSH FERRULES HAVINGBRISTLES FIXED THEREIN TO HANDLES, MEANS FOR MOVING BRUSH UNITSCONSISTING OF BRUSH FERRULES HAVING BRISTLES FIXED AND HANDLES RECEIVEDTHEREIN THROUGH SAID MACHINE, SAID MOVING MEANS INCLUDING A FIRSTHORIZONTAL RAIL CONSISTING OF TWO PARALLEL MEMBERS SPACED FROM ONEANOTHER AS TO DEFINE A LONGITUDINALLY EXTENDING CHANNELWAY, A SECONDHORIZONTAL RAIL OF LIKE CONSTRUCTION ALIGNED WITH SAID FIRST RAIL, ATRANSFER MECHANISM POSITIONED BETWEEN OPPOSED ENDS OF SAID RAILS FORTRANSFERRING BRUSH UNITS FROM THE FIRST RAIL TO THE SECOND, PUSHER BARMECHANISMS ASSOCIATED WITH EACH OF SAID RAILS AND ADAPTED TORECIPROCABLE LONGITUDINALLY THEREOF, AND MEANS FOR RECIPROCATING SAIDPUSHER BAR MECHANISMS, SAID PUSHER BAR MECHANISMS ASSOCIATED WITH EACHOF SAID RAILS AND ADAPTED TO AND MEANS FOR RAISING AND LOWERING SAIDPAIRS OF DOG ELEMENTS FROM A FIRST POSITION IN WHICH THE UPPER ENDS OFTHE